2001 Chevy Silverado - KRZ Customs

But in a Good Way

A wise man (Ice Cube) once said, "I don't know karate, but I know crazy." Cube was onto something there. Crazy isn't a bad way to go through life. Crazy gets it done. Crazy says go ahead and finish your truck a week before a truck show in Mississippi, then haul it all the way from California to the show and turn around and haul ass right back to California for a Sport Truck cover shoot, because everything will be all right. No way will any damage occur during the 3,000-plus-mile trip back and forth across the nation, and you'll make it with hours to spare before your appointment with a hot model and a photographer. Crazy kick's Careful's butt every time, and damn the man, if it gets you into trouble, right? Crazy, indeed, worked out for KRZ Customs, when we approached the shop about snapping pics of its Silverado for this month's edition of Sport Truck. Thankfully, the truck debuted at Showfest in Mississippi and made the trip back to our studio in Southern California without incident.

KRZ Customs of Fresno, California, is a shop that is known for doing things a bit differently than most. Not so long ago, when all of the West Coast river runs had dried up, the shop decided to throw its own. It was a hit that we featured in Sport Truck, and we hope it happens again. This shop had gone crazy, way before the river run, though. While the rest of the custom truck world was hacking up their trucks in an effort to get the rockers flat on the pavement at the expense of legroom, KRZ had a better idea and began crafting a mandrel-bent chassis that gave the same ground-scraping look without a body drop. Outsiders criticized KRZ and said the chassis would never sell and that truck owners would never pay the cost of a completely new frame for their trucks.

Today, owners Jeff Zander and Brian Garcia can't keep up with the demand for the company's body-dropless chassis. This red-hot Silverado is also the beneficiary of the duo's crazy work ethic. It began as a project truck, owned by one of the shop's customers, and when three quarters of the way into the chassis build he needed to unload the truck, Brian seized the opportunity to purchase and complete the half-finished Chevy. The crew, there, knew that going big and loud with this Chevy was a good way to show off KRZ's products. It's been an ongoing battle that has taken nearly two years to complete, while keeping the shop's daytime business rolling, but now that the truck has seen the light of day, the payoff has been huge.

Musso Motorsports and Plattinum Audio Designs of Las Vegas put the finishing touches on the interior and exterior of the truck, with custom bodywork, slick paint, and a killer audio/video system. With the truck off the trailer and back on the street, Jeff and Brian say that the original owner of the truck, Chris White, has dropped by to see what became of his old Chevy. Apparently, he digs the finished product and has been salivating over it. "We hope he buys it back now that it's all done and ready," say's Jeff. Now, that is crazy. This truck is so cool that we'd keep it all for ourselves.